Island of the Child King v2
by hyperpsychomaniac
Summary: A rewrite of the Skyland episode 'Island of the Child King'. Because I thought it needed improvement. The pirates go to an abandoned orphanage to rescue the children there before the Sphere can get to them.
1. Chapter 1

**A/n: **When I watched this episode, I thought it was kind of crappy. I also couldn't figure out what the hell they were trying to get at with the whole Peter Pan thing. Why would Lukas make Captain Hook the hero of the story when he distrusts adults? (I believe the answer is so Lena will look good when she tells the real story.) Anyway, I did thing the general idea of the episode was pretty good, or at least had the potential to be pretty good. So, I made it so. Well, nearer to it at any rate. Tell me if you think this is an improvement.

* * *

"Woah!" Mahad grinned as he dodged the Hyperion around yet another large chunk of bloc debris.

Lena, sitting beside her brother in the Hyperion, winced slightly. "It's a wonder anyone can find anything in this mess…" she commented.

The Hyperion was winding its way through airspace cluttered with many blocs of varied sizes. Most were fractured and crumbling, making charting a course incredibly difficult. The two siblings in the small ships cockpit were looking for something in particular however, and very soon the object of their search became visible upon the horizon.

"Is that it?" Mahad asked, pointing out a large building which had just floated into view, perched atop a large bloc. He activated the Hyperion's radio. "Saint Nazaire, come in this is Mahad…"

"_Go ahead, Mahad,"_ Cortes voice came in return through the Hyperion's speakers.

"I think we've found the orphanage."

"_Okay, we're still about four hours behind you. The Saint Nazaire can't fly as quickly as the Hyperion through all this debris. But we'll be there as soon as we can. You'll have to start the rescue without us."_

"Roger that," Mahad replied. He put the radio down. "Okay, Lena. We're going in."

----

On the bridge of the Saint Nazaire, Cortes gripped the big ship's steering wheel tightly. "I hope those children are alright," he said. "We should have never left them there alone for so long…"

"A whole house of Seijin children… why'd you leave them all by themselves?" Dahlia asked.

"It was too dangerous for them in the resistance," Cortes explained. "We couldn't let the Sphere get their hands on so many Seijins, so we left them here. We were going to come back… but their parents were the only ones who knew the exact location. They were really the only ones who we were sure wouldn't give up the location if they were captured." He paused for a brief moment. "But they were all killed. We've only now been able to find the location of the orphanage."

"I'm sure the children are fine, Cortes," Wayan reassured him. "Who could find them here anyway? It was hard enough for us."

"There's been Sphere activity in the area…" Cortes scowled. "The sooner we get to them the better."

----

Commander Oslo stood on the bridge of the Monolith. His eyes were close and he seemed in deep thought; through really his mind was reaching out, searching the nearby skies for any Seijin he might find of interest. You never knew who you might come across sometimes.

Diwan walked onto the bridge, and stood before her Commander. "Commander, we have located the Saint Nazaire nearby," she reported. "Our technicians were able to hack into her computer systems."

"What did you discover?" said Oslo as he opened his eyes and looked hard at Diwan.

"They're currently searching for an orphanage containing Seijin children. Apparently they… misplaced it years ago."

Oslo became more attentive. "Seijin children you say? Perhaps they are the same the resistance hid all those years ago…"

"It's a strong possibility."

"Either way, so many Seijin children will be a welcome addition to the Guardian school."

"It's a shame they have been kept alone for so long," said Diwan. "At least bringing them to the Guardian school will allow them to realise their full potential."

"Yes and the Sphere will ultimately benefit," Oslo agreed. "Send out a scouting party, Diwan. The Monolith will be set on a course for the Saint Nazaire. I will have those Seijin children and Lena too."

----

Mahad and Lena had just docked the Hyperion on the bloc, climbed out, and were making their way up towards the large building.

"That building looks even bigger up close…" Mahad commented.

"I think it's a hotel," said Lena. "They used to have them back when there was peace. People would stay there for business trips and vacations and stuff."

"Hmm… maybe I should go on a vacation here with Dahlia… you think they have double rooms?"

"Mahad!" Lena squealed.

"What?"

"Better get one on the ground floor…"

"Why?"

"Because if you tell Dahlia you said that, she'd toss you out the window."

The two made their way up towards the hotel. The pathway leading up to it was surrounded by large wooden figures, some resembling totem poles.

"Wow. These things are really ugly," said Mahad, poking one. "In fact… I'd say they're almost as ugly as Cortes…"

Suddenly, the figure Mahad was poking moved. "Halt!" it screeched, in a rather childlike voice.

"Woah!" Mahad jumped back as the wooden figure poked a stick out through its nostril, suddenly grew legs, and started poking him back. "Alright you…" he tugged on the stick as it jabbed at him again. "Come out of there…"

Another of the figures behind Lena stood up. "You're not permitted to land here. You must leave at once!"

"Um… okay… we surrender…" said Lena, raising her hands with a slight smile.

Mahad pulled the wooden figure off that had started poking him off the ground, revealing a boy of about eight underneath.

"Hey!" the kid shouted, trying to pull the disguise back down on himself. He failed, and instead started poking Mahad with the stick again.

"Stop it!"

"You're both under arrest!" the other figure said, taking off his disguise. He was also a boy of around about the same age.

"What?" Mahad sighed, giving up on stopping the boy who was still poking him with the stick. He wasn't doing much damage anyway. "You can't arrest us. We've come to rescue you."

"We don't need to be rescued!" the second boy said. "And yeah, we can arrest you! Lukas said so!"

"Who's Lukas?" Lena asked.

"He's our wise and fearless leader."

"Then take us to your wise and fearless leader," said Mahad. "Maybe we can talk some sense into _him_. You're all in danger, trust me."

"Of course you'll see out leader! Because you're under arrest!" said the first boy. He poked Mahad with his stick again.

"We're _not_ under arrest!" Mahad snapped, getting fed up with the poking.

"Come on, Mahad. Let's just go with them; it'll get us in."

"Alright…"

"Hey… he isn't a Seijin!" said the boy with the stick.

"Noooo…" said Mahad. "If I _was_ a Seijin, I would have blasted you already."

"Cool…" said the other boy. "I've never met a non-Seijin."

"How do you get stuff off high shelves?"

"How do you go to the bathroom?"

"How do you…"

"Argh! Exactly the same as _you_!"

----

Inside the orphanage, a boy of about fifteen sat on a high wall. At least a dozen younger children were scattered around the floor at his feet, staring wide eyed up at him.

The boy had a storybook open on his lap. "Captain Hook had Peter Pan trapped, right on the edge of the perilous cliff!" he read. "'Peter,' he said with an evil glint in his eye, 'here is where your story ends! You're parents don't love you, don't you know that's why they sent you here. They don't care that I'm about to kill you!' And with that, the evil Captain Hook swung his sword at Peter Pan, sending him tumbling over the edge of the cliff. Captain Hook looks over the cliff, and spies the crocodile, swimming away with his belly full. He smiles 'Now there are no more children to make my life a misery!'"

"I don't like this story…!" one of the children whined.

"It's an important story!" said the older boy reading.

The doors to the room burst opened suddenly.

"Lukas! I have brought prisoners!"

"What? Prisoners!? Well done, Po!" Lukas grinned, jumping down from his high perch.

"Ow!" said Mahad, as he was poked again by the boy with the stick and ushered into the room along with Lena.

"Lukas, are you the leader here?" Lena asked. "You have to listen to me, this bloc is in danger. There're evil people from the Sphere who might hurt you. You'll be safer if you come with us…"

"Come with you?" Lukas laughed. "No, we can defend ourselves. As for this 'Sphere'…" he thought for a moment, and then turned to the other children. "Have any of you heard of a Sphere? What's a Sphere?"

"A Sphere is someone who's… like a geek!" said a small boy.

"That's a _square_!" a young girl said, punching the boy in the arm.

"Ow!"

"No, never heard of a Sphere. Just squares… and pears… and bears!" said Lukas. He made his hands into claws, and jumped at a group of the children, making them squeal.

"This isn't time for games," said Mahad. "We're serious. We've come to rescue you."

"And just who are you?"

"I'm Lena, and this is my brother, Mahad," said Lena.

"Hmm… well, you're a Seijin," said Lukas, looking her up and down. "He on the other hand…"

"My you're an observant bunch," Mahad sighed.

"You have to listen to us, Lukas…"

"I don't have to listen to you. I'm the king here and I think… I'll have a nap. You're my prisoners so, Po! Lock them up. I'll decide what to do with them later."

"This is serious!" Mahad snapped.

"And you're seriously a pain…"

"I'm… stop poking me!"

"Lukas, please," Lena tried again. "_King_ Lukas, just let me talk to you."

"Hmm…" said Lukas, looking at her again. She was rather pretty. There hadn't been any new girls in the orphanage… well… ever. "Alright, I'll listen. But he has to go. Last thing we need is a non-Seijin stinking up the place."

"What… sorry, what did he just say?"

"Just go, Mahad. I'll talk to him."

Mahad sighed. "Alright. But don't you hurt her…" He was led out of the room by Po, closely followed by the other boy, who was still poking him with the stick.

---

"Captain, we've picked up the Monolith on our radar. I think they know we're here, they're following our course," said Dahlia.

"They're not being shy about it either," Wayan added.

"Um, sir…" Cheng added from where he sat at the Saint Nazaire's central console. "I think they may have hacked into our computer systems."

Cortes looked over his shoulder, startled. "Well, block them out!"

"I think I have… but… Cortes, I think they know we're looking for the orphanage."

Cortes looked at Cheng for a second more, then gritted his teeth and activated the radio.

----

"_Mahad, this is the Saint Nazaire. Come in, Mahad. Mahad, what's your location? We're still about two hours away from you. Listen, the Sphere hacked into the Saint Nazaire's computer system. They know about the orphanage, and they're heading right for you. We're coming for, but you've got to get out of there."_

In the cockpit of the Hyperion, one of the children watched the Hyperion's radio, listening to the strange voice that came out of it. He stared at the console for a moment after the message terminated, and then jumped out of the cockpit and headed back up towards the orphanage.

----

"They're not responding…" Cortes growled. "Alright, set a course for Mahad and Lena's last transmission. Hopefully we can find them that way."

"Aye, sir," Dahlia and Wayan both responded.

----

Back in the orphanage, Po and one of the other boys were keeping an eye on Mahad. They had taken his boomerang off of him, made him sit down, and were making a show of keeping him guarded.

"Hold still there," said the boy with the stick, poking him once again.

"You're really starting to get on my nerves, you know that don't you?"

Po was looking at Mahad's boomerang curiously. He tapped it against a wall.

"Hey, be careful with that. It's a real weapon. Not a toy like… this…" Mahad snatched the stick off the other boy as he said it, and tossed it down the hallway.

"Hey! That's mine!" The boy ran after it.

"What makes you think I don't know how to use a weapon?" Po asked defensively.

Just then, the boy who had been in the Hyperion's cockpit came running in. "Guess what I just heard on your ship's radio?" he said to Mahad.

"What?" Mahad sighed. He'd just observed he hadn't thrown the poking stick far enough. The boy had already retrieved it and was coming back.

"Your ship the Monolith is coming. But we'll be ready for them…"

"Wait, the Monolith?!" said Mahad, standing up. Suddenly, the boy and his stick weren't so important anymore. "That's not our ship; it's the Sphere! If they're coming here you're all in danger. You have to let us help."

"We don't need your help!" said Po. "We've got weapons! We're going to defend ourselves!"

"Don't you get it!?" Mahad growled. "Stuff like this…" He grabbed the poking stick, which the other boy had just arrive with and shoved into his ribs. "… isn't going to protect you from the Sphere!"

"We don't need your help!" Po shouted again.

"Okay, okay…" said Mahad, realising fighting with the children was going to get him nowhere. "Then how about I show you how to use a real weapon: my boomerang. Then I'll be confident you're ready to take on the Sphere."

The boys all grinned. "Alright!" said Po, "Show me!"

"Okay… just flick it like this…" Mahad said, imitating the movement.

Po took the boomerang, and copied Mahad's movement to fling the weapon up the hallway. The boomerang spun to the end of the hall, then came whizzing back, clear over the boys' heads, and straight into Mahad's hands.

"Brilliant, you've got it already…" Mahad grinned. "See ya." He took off down the hallway.

"Hey!" Po shouted, "Come back!"

"How did he outsmart us?" said the boy with the stick. "He's not even a Seijin!"

----

Lena was still with Lukas, trying as hard as she could to convince him of how much danger he and the other children were in.

Lukas had long ago grown bored of her arguments, and was flicking through the pages of Peter Pan again. He'd let her stay before because he'd found a new Seijin girl interesting… but now she was just getting on his nerves.

"You have to leave…" she was saying again. "Stop reading that book! You're just wasting time!"

Lukas sighed, slamming the covers closed. He really wished he _could_ read, some of the books were hard to make out just from the pictures. "No, I'm not. We don't need you to rescue us, and we're not leaving. We've got weapons, and we'll defend ourselves!"

"What weapons could you possibly have? You don't know how dangerous the Sphere is! Cortes is coming in the Saint Nazaire… once he's here you can all get on board and we'll get out of here…"

"And who or what is this Cortes and Saint Nazaire?" Lukas asked. "How will it protect us?"

"The Saint Nazaire is the resistance's ship. Cortes is the Captain…"

"Captain?" said Lukas sharply. "So… he's an adult…"

"Yeah…"

"And this is the resistance that left us here in the first place? Why do they want to help us now!?"

"They didn't know where you were…"

"Excuses!" Lukas snapped. He jumped down onto the floor, and held open the book of Peter Pan in front of Lena. "We don't need help from adults. They don't care about us!" He pointed to a picture in the book, of Captain Hook about to tip Peter Pan over the cliff. "This is what your Captain will do to us!"

"That's just a story, Lukas. It's not real."

"But the resistance _is_ real. And they really _did_ leave us here. I remember."

"You have to trust me…"

"I don't trust you. You're part of the resistance. You might as well be an adult!"

It was at that moment that Mahad burst into the room. "The Monolith is coming! Straight here. One of the kids said Cortes sent a message through the Hyperion. Lukas, you really have to listen to us…"

"A message from your Captain? Why should we believe him?"

"Because he's trying to rescue you!" Mahad snapped.

A young girl dashed into the room. "There're two strange ships heading for our bloc!" she said. "We just saw them!"

"What?" said Lukas.

"They've got an S on them!"

For a moment, Lukas didn't seem to get it.

"… for _Sphere_!" said the girl.

"Now do you believe us?" said Lena. "Ask her, they're big ships aren't they?"

The girl nodded, her eyes wide. "I don't think our arrows will hurt them…"

"Maybe you're right…" said Lukas, beginning to look nervous. "Maybe we do need the Saint Nazaire to help us…"

"No way!" Po had just come into the room, flinging the doors open ahead of him. "Why are you listening to them, Lukas!? We can defend ourselves!"

"I don't think we can…"

"What? You're weak, Lukas! You don't deserve to be King!"

"This isn't about who gets to be King, Po…"

"What, the Sphere? I'll tell you what, I'm going to go out to these ships of theirs and talk to them!"

"Hey, you can't talk to the Sphere!" said Mahad.

"Sure I can! None of you want to because you're all cowards! Especially you, Lukas! I'll show you!" With that, Po dashed out of the room.

"Po!" Lukas shouted after him.

"Leave him," said Lena. "We've got to figure out how to stop these ships."

"If they're S22s; they'll have scouts. So they'll be docking and getting out…" said Mahad. "Lukas, you'd better show us these 'weapons' of yours."

Lukas nodded. "Alright…" He sounded a little doubtful. "I'll show you what we've got…"


	2. Chapter 2

The Monolith was nearing the Saint Nazaire. Oslo stood on the bridge, his eyes closed. "I'm beginning to feel the Seijin children," he said, the slightest smile playing at his lips. "Adjust our course."

----

"Cortes, the Monolith has slightly changed course, and it's accelerating," said Cheng.

"They must know where the orphanage is…" said Wayan. "They'll get there before us!"

Cortes scowled. It was true. And if the Monolith got there before the Saint Nazaire, there would be nothing they could do.

"Sir, do you want us to go faster?" Dahlia asked. "Wayan and I can manage it…"

"No," Cortes shook his head. "We'll never beat them there. Adjust our course; take us to the Monolith."

"What?" the two pilots said in unison.

"The Monolith… are you sure?" Wayan asked.

"Captain, the Saint Nazaire is no match for the Sphere flagships…" said Dahlia. "Are you sure this is a good idea? We won't even be able to dent it."

"I know that, Dahlia. But we don't have much choice. We don't have to take it down or dent it… we just have to slow them down…"

"How're we going to do that?" Wayan asked.

Cortes frowned. "We're going to play a game of cat and mouse…" He added under his breath: "And hope the cat doesn't catch up…"

----

Outside the orphanage, Po stood on the bloc's edge.

Two S22s were heading right towards him.

"Hey!" he said, waving his arms above his head. "Welcome to our bloc! If you come peacefully, we'll do you no harm… we'll even share our pie! But if you don't come in peace, we'll be forced to attack…"

He trailed off. The two ships had paused, appearing to just look at him. Then the underside of one's nose started glowing blue.

"That's it!" Po shouted. "We're going to take you…"

A blast impacted the side of the bloc about twenty feet down from the boy. Po's eyes widened. He wanted to run, but suddenly he couldn't move. The second blast hit right at his feet, and Po was tossed to the ground in a flurry of rocks and dirt. He lay there unmoving.

The S22s began docking against the side of the orphanage, ignoring Po's crumpled body.

----

"These are your weapons?" Lena asked, looking at the array of toys and sticks on the table in front of them.

"Well… they are just play weapons…" Lukas shrugged.

"Right," said Mahad. "We have toy weapons…"

"When I said we had weapons… I thought you'd made up the Sphere…" Lukas started to explain, but then just trailed off.

"Never mind," said Mahad. He picked up an arrow with a suction cup on the end, and examined it. "We'll just have to make do with what we have…"

----

"I've never seen a ship so big…" said Wayan. He started wide-eyed out the forward windows of the Saint Nazaire. Ahead of them was the Monolith, appearing to slice its way through the blocs ahead of it.

"We don't stand a chance…" muttered Dahlia.

"Engines to full power!" Cortes growled, ignoring his crew's misgivings. He knew they trusted him enough to follow his orders even if they doubted them. He just hoped they weren't perfectly justified to doubt.

The Saint Nazaire ran at the Monolith, coming at the larger ship from behind. As they approached it was obvious the Monolith completely dwarfed the pirates' ship. The Saint Nazaire came in close, swooping low over the Monolith's hull.

The radio activated. "Cortes… just what are you trying to prove?" Oslo's voice came over the communications, the hint of a laugh behind it.

Cortes gritted his teeth. "Says the man with the giant ship shaped liked _that_," he muttered. He ignored the radio, and kept staring straight ahead. "Get us out of here! Full power!" he shouted to his crew.

"Captain… the engines are in the red…" Wayan warned.

"I understand, Wayan, but keep going!"

Behind the fleeing pirates' ship, the Monolith turned to attack. Tendrils of electricity stretched from its forward weaponry, reaching for the Saint Nazaire.

The smaller ship was fleeing fast though, and instead the electricity became attracted to the nearby blocs and debris. When they hit, the blocs smashed and crumbled, spreading themselves across the path of the Monolith.

----

"Stop firing you trigger happy fools!" Oslo snarled, pounding his fist upon the console. "We can't hit the Saint Nazaire, and now it will take even longer to reach the orphanage through all this debris!"

He turned to the holographic image of Diwan that had appeared upon his console. "You'd better hope those scouts find those children, Diwan!" he shouted. "Or I will hold you personally responsible!"

----

"Alright, we showed them!" Dahlia grinned at Wayan.

"Hell, yeah!" Wayan grinned back.

"That'll just slow them down," said Cortes, not joining in his crew's celebration. "But hopefully it'll give us enough time to get to the orphanage well before them. Take us there, full speed."

"Aye, sir," Dahlia and Wayan responded.

----

In the orphanage, two Brigs stomped through the halls. They were part of the scouting party, which had recently landed by the orphanage. They were armed, and though their mission was to find and capture the children alive, they wouldn't hesitate to use force if they were attacked.

One stomped around a corner, and came across a small wooden train moving across the floor, glowing blue. It watched the moving toy, appearing strangely curious as it watched it move across the floor.

It was distracted, and all of a sudden, Mahad jumped around the corner and cleaved its head off with his boomerang. "Got ya!"

The second Brig was poking its head down the next hallway, when it noticed a whole lot of small red marbles spill out by its feet. It took a step, trying to see where they had come from, and slipped, smashing its circuitry.

Two other Brigs were exploring another part of the orphanage. Suddenly, a man sized figure appeared around the corner, attracting the two Brigs' attention. It was in fact a conglomerate of toys held together by Seijin energy. It had a basketball for a head, and the Seijin energy glowing all over it helped it to walk.

Two of the Seijin children hid around a corner, controlling the life sized doll.

It fooled the two Brigs, and one of them lifted its weapons arm, and shot the glowing stack of toys in the 'chest'. It fell apart, bits and pieces clattering to the ground.

But it distracted the Brigs long enough for one of the children to step out and shoot an arrow with a suction cup head straight in the eye of one of the Brigs.

Unable to see, the Brig stumbled around, panicked about as much as a machine could panic, and shot its companion in the chest.

"Yay!" said the small child that had shot it.

The remaining Brig heard him, and turned towards the voice.

"Ah!" said the boy, and ran off down the hallway.

The Brig followed the noise but was suddenly hit by a glowing, spinning slinky. The slinky wrapped around its neck, confusing it further.

Lukas stepped around a corner, following the slinky up with a blast of Seijin light.

The Brig exploded, and fell to the floor.

"You alright?" he asked the boy who had dashed to his side.

The boy nodded, and looked at the falling Brig. "We'll never be able to untangle that slinky, you know…"

"Come on…" said Mahad, sticking his head around the corner. "That's the last of the Brigs. We've got to get out of here!"

Lukas nodded, and chased the boy ahead of him.

They collected children on the way, and headed up and out of the orphanage.

"There's Cortes and the Saint Nazaire!" Mahad shouted, pointing as they exited the orphanage.

"But the Monolith is right behind them!" said Lena.

The Saint Nazaire was speeding towards the orphanage. But barely a few kilometres behind the pirate ship the far larger flagship of the Sphere seemed to push its way through the bits of bloc, bearing down on the smaller ship and the orphanage in front of it.

"There's Brigs out here!" Lukas shouted from behind them. He'd just come out behind Mahad and Lena, and spotted a couple of the machines standing out on the bloc.

The Brigs turned, spotting the children.

"Stay back until we get rid of them!" Lukas shouted back to the other children.

He and Lena blasted the first Brig then started picking off the other half dozen that were milling around outside the orphanage.

----

"The Monolith got out of all that debris far faster than I'd hoped," Cortes scowled, looking over his shoulder apprehensively. He was almost bouncing on the spot, and his hands were gripping the Saint Nazaire's wheel so tightly his knuckles had turned white. If the Monolith caught up, they'd stand no chance. And then there were the children.

"If the Monolith holds its present speed… we _should_ be able to get them out…" said Cheng. He sounded unsure.

"Alright, alright…" said Cortes. "Wayan, Dahlia, bring us down as fast as you possibly can…"

"Yes, sir," Wayan replied. The two pilots were concentrating intently on the task. Docking was easy, but not quite so when you were attempting to do it at almost full speed.

Cortes looked ahead and out the forward windows, scanning the bloc for any sign of Mahad and Lena and the children. Suddenly, his eyes caught on something on the bloc's surface. "Bring the Saint Nazaire down here!" he shouted. "Right on this outcropping."

The Saint Nazaire banked sharply, coming into the bloc's side, and extending a ramp.

Cortes wasted no time in disembarking the Saint Nazaire; he was on the ramp before it even hit the side of the bloc.

----

"That's the last one!" shouted Mahad. He's just cleaved the head from the final Brig. It was boring letting Lukas and Lena take care of them all.

"The Saint Nazaire's just down there!" Lena shouted back to the children. "You have to get aboard as fast as you can!"

"Go on!" said Lukas, urging the first child ahead of himself.

The children ran down the side of the bloc, heading towards the red and black ship.

"It looks like a pirate ship…" observed a little girl.

"It's a _good_ pirate ship," said Lena.

They finally made it down the bloc, careful not to leave any of the younger ones behind.

A couple of the children suddenly stopped at the front of the group.

"A pirate…!"

"An _adult_…!"

Cortes stood at the base of the Saint Nazaire's ramp. In his arms he held the crumpled form of Po. "Come on children, you need to get on the Saint Nazaire right away. You're all in great danger."

Lukas crashed his way to the front of the group. "What did you do to Po!?" he shouted.

Mahad grabbed him by the collar. "It's okay! Cortes didn't hurt him!"

"I think the Sphere shot him. He'll be alright, I promise you. But right now you have to get on the Saint Nazaire."

"Come on," said Lena, ushering the children ahead of her and up the ramp to the Saint Nazaire.

Lukas stayed staring at Cortes for a second more, as the other children filed past.

"Go on…" Mahad gave Lukas a gentle shove, coaxing him up the ramp.

Mahad and Cortes followed behind.

----

"No!" Oslo snarled, pounding a fist on the console in front of him. "This is all your fault Diwan! We'll never get the children before the Saint Nazaire now!" He paused for a moment, seething. "The last thing we want to give the resistance is Seijin children. Well, if we can't have them, then no one can. Destroy the orphanage!"

----

The Monolith sent a blast from its lightning canons across the sky. The orphanage was hit, and was instantly turned into a smouldering heap.

The Saint Nazaire was already pulling away. The children were all on board, and the Monolith would be unable to easily pursue through the high density blocs.

The lightning canons let off a few more blasts, but were unable to hit the Saint Nazaire.

The rescue had succeeded.

----

Two weeks later, the children had been settled into life on Puerto Angel. The Vector had been helping them catch up on schoolwork, much to the annoyance of most of the children.

Right now, they were all on break, sitting in Puerto Angel's tavern, and making a right lot of noise. A few paper aeroplanes were flying around the place, but apart from the noise they were mostly behaving themselves.

Lukas was sitting on the end of the one of the benches when Cortes slipped in to sit beside him.

"Ah, hi sir…" said Lukas. He wasn't as wary of adults as he'd been when he'd first arrived. Still, he found that the Captain still unnerved him just a little bit.

"Lukas… I heard you talking to Mahad about your parents yesterday…"

"Yeah…"

"Look, I know it must've been very hard having them leave you on that bloc. Believe me; they didn't have any other choice. Back then it was safer for you there."

"I get that…"

"They didn't desert you, lad. And we didn't mean to leave you for so long. They would have come back for you if they could have; and we would've come back if we knew where you were…"

"But the Sphere killed them…" said Lukas. "So you couldn't."

"Yeah." Cortes paused for a moment. "I knew your parents, Lukas. They loved you very much."

Lukas nodded, chewing his lip and looking down at the surface of the table. "Thanks, Captain…"

"Who wants to hear a story!" said Lena, bouncing in amongst some of the children. "I think you'll like this one…" She opened the book she held in her hands, and began to read. "Then the evil Captain Hook pushed Peter Pan over the edge. He peered over the edge… and saw Peter float up into the air. Tinkerbell had sprinkled him with pixie dust and rescued him!"

"Yay!" said one of the children. "I always knew Peter wasn't supposed to die!"

"Yeah," said another, "that'll show those evil mean pirates!"

Cortes sighed, shaking his head, and stood up from the table.

The Vector had just returned, and reaching over Lena he pulled the book from her hands. "I think we'll read something else today," he said with a smile. "Time to start work again."

"Aw, no!" all the children said in unison.


End file.
